


textbooks and cherry wine

by Aquariusgarbag



Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Getting Together, Professor!Shuri, student!bucky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-08 07:04:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21231743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquariusgarbag/pseuds/Aquariusgarbag
Summary: “Sounds like you’re hot for teacher.” Sam says.Bucky puts his head down on the table and questions why exactly he’s friends with Sam Wilson.





	1. Prologue

Bucky arrives to class early. He’s surprised to find another student already there, a pretty little thing, the kind of girl he would have fallen over himself flirting with in high school. Now, however, as a former POW turned NYU biology major he simply gives her a nod and finds a seat in the middle row. The girl gives him a beautiful little smile of acknowledgement and continues milling about in the front of the classroom.

It’s not like Bucky has totally lost the ability to flirt since returning home, although Sam might argue otherwise, he’s just quieter now, less willing to put himself out there. It hasn’t made his love life or socializing in general easy, he’s had to steal all his friends from Steve.

A few more people start arriving to class MacBooks and Starbucks in tow. Bucky can’t help analyzing every person who enters potential threat, even though he knows he’s being ridiculous. He’s always on edge, has been since his capture by the terror cell Hydra, maybe before since he joined the army.

To try to calm himself he focuses all of his attention on the woman in the front. She’s beautiful, a petite figure with mahogany skin and the grace of Audrey Hepburn, her hair done in braids trailing all the way down her back. She’s wearing an expensive looking white dress, which looks more like it should belong at an art gallery than a lecture hall. His hopefully discreet watchfulness works well as a relaxation technique, each of her refined movements giving his mind something to focus on besides some random hipster turning out to be a terrorist. 

When he looks away from her the majority of the seats are filled and it’s time for class to begin. Now all he needs to do is wait for the professor to get there and his mind can begin to focus on Bio-Technology. He’s tapping his pen impatiently when his attention is again drawn to the girl in the front of the room. She’s writing on the board: ‘Professor Shuri’ 

Professor Shuri, with the mannerisms of a princess, then begins to hand out the syllabus to be passed around. She starts to call roll, her voice just as charming.

‘Shit,’ Bucky thinks, ‘this is going to be a long semester.’


	2. One

Shuri has officially been a professor for one day and has already been mistaken for a student twenty times, including two invites to frat parties. It’s going about how she expected.

She settles down at the bar, far away from campus, and watches Okoye bring their drinks to the table. The older woman had insisted they go to celebrate Shuri’s first day on the job, and after experiencing it Shuri agrees completely. 

She hadn’t expected it to be easy, knew from her getting her doctorates that people were reticent to recognize her intelligence either because of her race, gender or age. Still, she hadn’t expected students to be so vocal about their disbelief. She’s recounting to Okoye one particular young man who kept asking ‘Where the real professor was?’ When two handsome men enter the bar and catch her attention.

One of them, the white one with long hair, looks familiar to her but she can’t place him. They settle down at the bar within her line of site. Okoye notices her distraction.

“Oh he’s cute!” She says.

“They’re both cute.” Shuri challenges. Okoye makes a noncommittal noise, making Shuri laugh.

“Want to go over?” Okoye asks, always trying to break Shuri out of her academic bubble.

“No!” Shuri says immediately. It’s not that she’s against flirting or relationships on principle, it’s just that she’s never had time and now worries it might be too late. Most people lose their virginity before or during their time as student at college, not as professors.

Okoye, however, is already making her way over to the bar, giving Shuri a teasing look over her shoulder.

Shuri is too far away to hear what Okoye says but can see her strike up conversation with the black half of the duo while she waits for the bartender to come over. Both men look over when Okoye points over to their table and as the white guy makes eye contact with her Shuri feels ice go down her spine. She recognizes the man now, he was one of her students.

Shuri valiantly stops herself from hiding under the table as she sees the flash of recognition mirrored in the man’s eyes. Thankfully the bartender comes over then and Okoye has to stop talking and follow through with the pretense of ordering more drinks. The man however continues to cast glances her way. 

Okoye looks over at her and must see that her distress is for real, she bids farewell to the men and comes back to the table.

Shuri immediately grabs her drink and takes a long swallow. When she puts it down she’s met with a concerned look from the older woman.

“That guy was one of my students.” Shuri answers the unasked question.

“Oh shit!” Okoye says and is rightfully repentant the rest of the night, buying two rounds in a row.

The long haired man continues to look at Shuri the rest of the night, but like he’s trying not to get caught at it. Shuri doesn’t know if that makes it better or worse. 

Okoye tries to relieve her mind about the whole thing, assuring her that she hadn’t said anything forward, had only made small talk and hadn’t mentioned that her friend thought they were both cute. Shuri still feels awkward the rest of the night, despite overall having a good time with her friend. 

As soon as she’s back in her apartment she finds her roll sheet and tries to match the name to the face. She recognizes it as soon as she sees it, the memory coming back to her.

James Barnes.

“Bucky.” He has said, voice quiet, stead fast and beautiful.

Teaching might be harder than Shuri had initially calculated.

As soon as Professor Shuri and the other woman have left the bar, Bucky feels able to tell Sam.

“That woman that just left,” he says, pointing with his prosthetic hand. “She’s my bio-tech professor.”

“Oh shit! The one who was flirting with me? Why didn’t you say something earlier, I could have totally gotten you a good grade.” Sam jokes.

“No, not her, her friend. The little one, real pretty.”

“My attention was focused elsewhere I guess.” Sam says, meaning certain attributes of the other woman. “Hang on, ‘real pretty?’ Sounds like you’re hot for teacher.”

Bucky puts his head down on the table and questions exactly why he’s friends with Sam Wilson. Sam cackles.

“I couldn’t focus on shit all class, kept staring at her like a creep!” Bucky complains.

“I think you’re lucky. College and medschool and all I get is old dodgers who grade harshly.” 

“I’m not gonna pass the class if I’m too busy perving on the professor.” Bucky moans, making Sam laugh.

Sam buys Bucky a sympathy beer and Bucky remembers why he’s friends with him.

Wednesday’s class goes by mercifully without incident. Shuri keeps glancing nervously at Bucky but the man doesn’t talk to any of the other students to tell them about Monday’s incident. He dutifully takes handwritten notes as she lectures, seemingly entirely focused on his writing, barely glancing at her or the board.

Shuri, however, can’t stop looking at the man. She doesn’t mean to, but everyone she looks away from her slides her eyes find the long haired muscular man. He looks to be ten years older than the rest of the students, which would explain why he was in a swank Manhattan bar instead of one of the usual dives that cater to students. Still, even if the man is older than her it doesn’t make the fact that Shuri’s attracted to a student any better.

Shuri has fought hard to be taken seriously in academia, has fought hard to be considered mature enough for a teaching position at the young age of twenty-five. Getting a school girl crush on her own student throws that all away. She’ll have to keep a tight lid on this attraction if she wants to keep the respect she’s earned.

Fate, unfortunately, doesn’t make it easy for her.

It’s after her third lecture of the day and Shuri is exhausted, but she has one more class to go. She uses all her scientific knowledge to surmise that she’s in desperate need of a Starbucks run. She heads out of the building and three blocks down, passing two other Starbucks which she hopes will be enough to avoid any students. She’s wrong.

She’s in line when she notices him. Bucky is set up at a table in the corner, laptop and notebooks out, apparently in full study mode. While she stands in line gaping at him he looks up, as if he could feel her eyes on him. He gives her a nod of acknowledgement like he did on the first day, and she returns it shakily and looks forward again. She knows she’s being ridiculous, knows just seeing the man shouldn’t make her knees weak. She’s normally so uninterested in men that when attraction hits her it hits her hard.

She considers fleeing, but he’s already seen her and being seen sprinting out of a Starbucks without a drink would only add to the embarrassing situation. She bravely stays in line. She places her order and is handed her venti. She turns around and bumps into what feels like a brick wall. A brick wall wearing a very soft sweater. Shit.

“Sorry!” Shuri squeaks out, looking up to the face of Bucky who’s now covered in hot coffee.

“I-I it’s fine.” He stutters, avoiding eye contact. 

He steps away and makes to grab napkins at the same time as Shuri. There hands brush over the napkin dispenser and Shuri feels electricity in the touch, now she’s really being ridiculous she thinks. They both blot at the coffee spilled all over his stomach, staining his light grey sweater. Shuri can feel how hard his abs are under the soft material, could trace the outline of his six pack if she wanted to. She quickly moves her hand back. Busies herself throwing away the mess of napkins. 

Just then a kind Starbucks employee who saw her mishap sets down Shuri’s replacement drink with a smile.

Bucky starts to give his own order, what he’d been trying to do before Shuri has assaulted him with coffee. Before Shuri can stop herself she handing over her own card to pay for his drink. It’s the least she can do, she rationalizes.

“You don’t gotta do that.” Bucky tells her, voice as soft as his sweater.

“I just want the reward points.” Shuri says and inwardly cringes, but Bucky laughs kindly..

The employee hands him his drink. “Thanks.” He says to the employee, and then turning to her and piercing her with his blue eyes, “Thanks, professor.”

“No problem. Sorry again.” Shuri says, unable to look directly at his kind eyes. She scurries our of the Starbucks quickly. 

When she’s safely a block away she forces herself to take a deep breath. She should not be acting like this for a number of reasons. The man has barely said five words to her and she’s lost her mind over him. She’s going to need to get a grip on herself on this semester is going to be a disaster.

Bucky watches as Dr. Shuri exits the Starbucks like she’s being chased by a bear. He feels a twinge of disappointment that he couldn’t turn this awkward situation into a flirtatious one, the old him would have been able to. But he’s not who he once was, and besides, it would be inappropriate to hit on his teacher. 

He sits back down at his table and continues studying, ironically for Shuri’s very class. He takes a sip of the coffee she bought for him, it tastes sweeter somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this chapter! Lemme know what you think please :-) 
> 
> This https://open.spotify.com/user/toriiymoi/playlist/3joHFUgc47pkFxYmNaVL92?si=_axY5wLIS3KIvAf62CKETg
> 
> Is my painfully short winterprincess playlist, rec me some winterprincess songs!

**Author's Note:**

> My first winterprincess fic! Lemme know what you think!!
> 
> I know I’m testing the limits of belief having the professor arrive to class early lmao
> 
> I’m on tumblr @ fictionsandironies.tumblr.com


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